Meet Lucy: A Career in Production

Discover Lucy’s career journey at Frontier, from joining a grain store as a yard assistant with no relevant qualifications to becoming a Grain Store Supervisor. Find out how she combines grain testing, machinery and team coordination, the skills she has developed and her advice for learning on the job.

What does a normal day look like in your job?

There is no such thing as a normal day working in a grain store. All my tasks vary from day to day, of course we have jobs that re-occur daily, weekly, monthly and yearly such as every morning before we can start any lab testing all Internal Quality Controls (IQCs) are run through the machines and all vehicles are inspected to ensure they are safe to use.

Every Monday we have a gather up of all jobs that need completing and where we are at with jobs from the week before, our list gets updated and we assign who wants to do what and the day begins!

Some of the more exciting jobs are loading lorries using our JCB 550-80 or Volvo L70 Loading Shovel and during harvest running the UK first hybrid grain dryer.

Lab testing is a regular occurrence throughout the year but during harvest is defiantly our busiest time which is always fascinating to see how every year varies from weather and area!

It is a fantastic job if you don’t like being stuck doing one thing!

How did you get into this role?

I got into this role by pure chance.

After leaving college during the pandemic and working in a local shop until the world had calmed down a little. I wanted to try something different. I initially applied for the Laboratory/Weighbridge Assistant job at harvest unfortunately this position was filled but I was offered the Yard Assistant position instead.

I had no relevant qualifications for this job but just from turning up every day and trying your best, listening to the people that work alongside you, this is where you pick up your skills. Once harvest had finished I had already fallen in love with the job and the people, I was asked to stay on full time.

Over the last 5 years I have gradually built up respect and knowledge as well as gaining so many transferable skills that I was promoted to Grain Store Supervisor which has given me such an opportunity to show how much I have learnt from starting at the bottom.

What skills or qualities matter most in your job?

Confidence to trust yourself and your decisions there is a lot of jobs where you can seriously affect the grain we are storing so you need to be confident the choice you are making is right.

Obviously some practical skills with great attention to detail is needed for lab work along with yard jobs

The willingness to learn, I started this job with no idea what wheat or barley was but if you are happy to learn you will thrive.

Great spatial awareness, this is needed when driving big machinery but this does come with time and practice.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

The community within the industry is a very supportive one, if you are ever stuck or just not sure on the best way to go there is a brilliant unjudgmental connection between different grain stores who will always help if they can.

Meeting our customers and different hauliers, everyone has a different story to tell and you can build relationships which help them and you which in turn gives you a great satisfaction of being able to help.

Looking after the grain, as it is a living product it does come with many challenges which keeps you on your toes and you never quite know what the next day will bring!

What advice would you give someone thinking about this career?

The best advice I was given before I left college was that university isn’t for everyone. It really isn’t I am proud to say that I didn’t attend a university.

I know this isn’t a suitable choice for every career however the agricultural industry is an industry that wants to pass on the knowledge from one generation to another so just start at the bottom and you will soon find your path.

Just give it a go, this job might not be for you but it will help you gain some great skills that can be used in any industry!